Raid DPS Contribution is IMPORTANT

[HyperiusUltima]

Adding? More like stripping down, minimizing, and homogenizing the healer archetype instead. There's nothing to celebrate about this update if you're a Scholar main. It's going to suck.

Well, let's face it: SCH's been a staple of the Raid Meta for years. Having a shake-up or two isn't going to kill SCH(and even though I do think they should've had SCH keep some AoE at 4.0, they eventually gave it back), but rather evolve it. I mean, they're going to have a RESPONSIVE FAIRY for once. No more independent pet systems that require macros to execute.

[Vivian_Vex]

Adding new mechanics? That's a spin. It's more accurate to admit they're stripping down and homogenizing the healer archetype instead. There's nothing to celebrate about this update if you're a Scholar main. It's going to suck.

if by spin you mean *the truth* then yes It is a massive spin on it.

[Veis_Alveare]

Adding new mechanics? That's a spin. It's more accurate to admit they're stripping down and homogenizing the healer archetype instead. There's nothing to celebrate about this update if you're a Scholar main. It's going to suck.

Very true! But sch nerfs have been necessary for literally 99% of SB soooo... good?

[Risvertasashi]

that might be what they meant by pure healing emphasis. Compared to raid buffs.

All the same, it was incredibly vague. So we don't really know. But... I'm worried. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear white mage will be the red-headed stepchild healer once more.

[LarcSekaya]

If they increase WHM oGCD heals that can open up more GCDs for DPS abilities. If they increase the potency of WHM heals, they can heal less frequently and do more damage. They can increase the potency of WHM attacks to offset the rDPS buffs the others provide.

Plus, it looks like AST is losing AoE cards, so the rDPS contribution may not be as much.

[Hustensaft]

Plus, it looks like AST is losing AoE cards, so the rDPS contribution may not be as much.

Here is the sad part people don't see: AST cards and Stratagem aren't all that huge in rDPS gains, they're 2 or 1% rDPS gains. If you look back in WoW history when unique buffs still existed, you had values in a range of about 5% rDPS gain per buff (e.g. 5% crit at 100% critdamage).

In the current setting, the new black lily damage ability, if available every 30 sec, would need to be about 300 potency to equal whatever raid dps gain Chain Stratagem provides. It's fairly hard to argue for "WHM needs dps utility", when such a simple yet seemingly weak DPS button can provide an equal rDPS gain.

It looks more like all healers are reduced down to a single target dps spell, and one dot, and one AoE ability - which can easily balanced against each other.
Then you have further homogenization in healing toolkits (e.g more instants for WHM), so the usage of DPS spells is overall more equal across healer setups.
At that point you have to balance cards vs. stratagem vs. black lily for raid DPS contribution.

In general, they seem to have gone for full homogenization in heal and DPS toolkit to balance healers, instead of actually fixing the underlying issues.

[Metsonm]

Here is the sad part: AST cards and Stratagem aren't all that massive in gain, they're 2 or 1% rDPS gains. If you look back in WoW history when unique buffs still existed, they were in a numerical range of about 5% (e.g. 5% crit at 100% critdamage).

The new black lily damage ability, if available every 30 sec, would need to be about 300 potency to equal whatever raid dps gain Chain Stratagem provides. There's absolutely no reason to cry for raid DPS utility with the Black Lily ability.

We don't even know the full extent of the kits or their potencies for any of the classes yet. We can't begin to work out how much personal or raid DPS any class brings, let alone how much disparity there is in balance. For all we know SCH also gets a new DPS toy to match.

[Veis_Alveare]

Just because Chain and Cards exist doesn't mean they're going to be contributing the same amount of damage.

With the lack of emphasis on synergy I can't imagine you'll be able to get as much out of chain specifically.

I understand the pessimism that comes with how let down WHM mains have been in the past but let's not lose our minds until we see what the cards and chain do

[HyperiusUltima]

Just because Chain and Cards exist doesn't mean they're going to be contributing the same amount of damage.

With the lack of emphasis on synergy I can't imagine you'll be able to get as much out of chain specifically.

I understand the pessimism that comes with how let down WHM mains have been in the past but let's not lose our minds until we see what the cards and chain do

Chain is probably still going to stay meta, unless they SIGNIFICANTLY reduce its Crit %(I'm talking down to 5% instead of 15%). As for AST Cards, They said something about roles. We'll have to figure out the typology regarding which cards go where when drawn. With an even stronger emphasis on single buffing instead of AoE, we need to look at what WHM brings on the 29th when Press Releases happen. The big worry for everyone waiting is that SE didn't actually fix the problem, and instead overtuned AST/SCH comp again since SCH already has more than enough tools to handle just about anything right now.

Secretly, the only thing I hope for is that Shields are in fact a Max HP %(Like 10-15%) instead of a flat number that can mitigate Omega's Savage Delta Attack without Tank LB3 and significant party mitigation.

[Hustensaft]

Chain is probably still going to stay meta, unless they SIGNIFICANTLY reduce its Crit %(I'm talking down to 5% instead of 15%). As for AST Cards, They said something about roles. We'll have to figure out the typology regarding which cards go where when drawn. With an even stronger emphasis on single buffing instead of AoE, we need to look at what WHM brings on the 29th when Press Releases happen. The big worry for everyone waiting is that SE didn't actually fix the problem, and instead overtuned AST/SCH comp again since SCH already has more than enough tools to handle just about anything right now.

Chain Stratagem is numerical weak, that is an undeniable fact. It's around a 1-1.25% increase to raid DPS in 4.5 gear, in the earlier patches with lower crit damage multipliers, it's even less then that. In potency terms, you're looking at somewhere between 600-800 potency per minute to equal whatever gain Chain Statagem has. Black Lily seems to be very capable of doing that.

And just to do the math for you: Chain Stratagem at 5% would be a hideous 0.33-0.42% raid DPS gain in 4.5 gear. That's roughly 200 to 266 potency per minute...